Avoiding well-known tourist spots, we headed to the lively inner-city neighbourhoods of Anjos, Graça and Arroios
International lisboetas are driving one-of-a-kind passion projects in Lisbon’s boutique wine bar scene. Characterised by wine curiosity, these community-oriented bars often embrace natural wines.
Essential Algarve’s correspondent discovered a few of these diverse spaces. Avoiding well-known tourist spots, we headed to the spirited inner-city neighbourhoods of Anjos, Graça and Arroios, meeting with welcoming owners, unshakable in their belief in small-producer local and international wines.
Whites tend to be the most consumed, sparkling is popular, orange is perennial, and reds are often lower alcohol and chilled.
Here is Essential Algarve’s must-visit list:
Rosie’s
Sophie Denon, an Australian who worked as a journalist, before becoming a brander in the luxury sector in France, recalls looking out over the Paris rooftops one morning and thinking: “I can’t do this anymore; I’m going to open a wine bar.”
Rosie’s ©Ericka de Souza
Friends had raved about Lisbon, so Sophie found a former ice cream shop in Rua do Forno do Tijolo, a gritty shopping street in the emerging area of Anjos, and created Rosie’s.
Rosie’s ©Ericka de Souza
The wine bar and bottle shop sells natural wines from a cellar of European countries.
“Our focus is on France (a passion), Italy and Spain, but equally Slovenia and Hungary,” she says.
Rosie’s ©Ericka de Souza
Rosie’s balances respect for the past with clean, contemporary lines and lighting, to produce a sense of belonging and place.
“Natural wines are no longer a trend; they’re an absolute must,” Sophie assures.
Rosie’s ©Ericka de Souza
“They are the highest form of craftsmanship in wine. It’s about farming, the wines change every year depending on the weather, nothing is added, nothing removed. At Rosie’s we tell the story of these incredible producers.”
Sophie is also a small-scale importer of wines, distributing to restaurants and bars, and a cook.
“I’ve been cooking since I was a kid, coached by my mother and grandmother. We sell everything you need for an apéro: olives from Spain or Puglia, cornichons from Beaune, saucisson from Aveyron.”
Lero Lero
Nearby, Felipe Sesini, an avid collector of vinyl records, is a sociologist and lover of natural wines with an exuberant personality.
In a stylish space with storied images on the walls, a U-shaped bar echoes the curved street window, and an open kitchen serves up yummy pizzas.
Here, Felipe orchestrates slow time in a buzzy atmosphere.
“We are Brazilians mostly; warm. We joke with the customers and make them comfortable.
We try to be a bit provocative, but at the same time a bit lower profile, to embrace the neighbourhood. We get known by word of mouth,” he explains.
“It’s important to talk to the customers about the product”, an international selection including Italian, French, and currently Catalan wines, as well as a frequently changing Portuguese choice. “Lots of locals come in, 60/70% Portuguese, as well as foreigners,” he adds.
A Viagem das Horas
Ricardo Maneira arrived in Portugal from Angola aged 14. Later, working as a DJ in a bar at the Bastille, in Paris, he mused, “One day I want to have my own place!”.
A Viagem das Horas opened during the pandemic, in 2021, in Arroios, a multi-cultural neighbourhood barely touched by gentrification.
Viagem das Horas
“This was the best time to open, everybody was fed up with staying at home,” he remembers.
Ricardo offers wines by the glass mainly from the Lisbon region, and French wines – “at the moment, I’m crazy about Jura wines” –, tapas and with food pop ups in the summer, and of course music.
Viagem das Horas
“Black music, jazz, we love music! We’re a neighbourhood wine bar, we work for the local community and don’t put the margin too high, so we can do a glass for 4€ or €5,” he reveals.
Viagem das Horas
The bar draws a vibrant local crowd of mainly Portuguese. Sophie of Rosie’s, who sells wine to Ricardo, speaks of his “generosity of spirit and wine curiosity”.
Graça do Vinho
Former Portuguese journalist and photographer, Miguel Azevedo, a pioneer in Lisbon’s contemporary wine bar scene, opened Graça do Vinho on a cobbled street leading up to the ancient church of Graça, in 2013.
Graça do Vinho
“There’s more competition now,” he remarks wistfully. The bar is in an old haberdasher’s shop, dating from 1937, that retains many of its original fittings.
Graça do Vinho
In a calm, congenial atmosphere, Miguel gives a knowledgeable pour of Portuguese and international wines and serves Portuguese small plates, with oysters a speciality.
Vino Vero
Born in Florence, Giulia Capaccioli moved to Venice to do a degree in Chinese Language and Politics, followed by a Master’s in Contemporary Art.
Vino Vero
In Venice she worked at Vino Vero, on the Cannaregio Canal, where her future business partner, Massimiliano Bartoli was a founder.
In 2018 the couple moved to Portugal, attracted by the ‘Lisboom’, and the following year they opened Vino Vero in Lisbon’s Graça neighbourhood, not long before the pandemic inflicted lockdowns: “Mama mia! At the time there were no 100% natural wine bars in Lisbon,” Giulia recalls.
Vino Vero
“In the fine weather we sell mainly whites and bubbles, but in the winter, you want a little cuddle in your mouth, so its reds. Our winemakers have an atavistic attachment to the land.
Vino Vero
We have a regular neighbourhood crowd, including Portuguese curious to know about international wines.” Vino Vero and its pavement tables on the pedestrian travessa are often packed.
Vino Vero
To accompany their wines, Julia and Massimiliano offer easy-to-eat delicious food such as oysters, bread, olive oil imported from Tuscany, Italian charcuterie and sardines bought from an Algarve fisherman.
Wine makers are invited to introduce their wines from behind the bar and there are regular DJ sets.
Opposite Vino Vero, Julia and Massimiliano run a second bar, Bacaro, that draws a young clientele, attracted by affordable wines and beers.
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